'Essex girl' removed from dictionary as definition as 'loud, badly dressed and willing to have sex' is deemed offensive

DICTIONARY chiefs have removed the term ‘Essex girls’ defining them as "loud, badly dressed and willing to have sex" in a book for foreign language students.

Furious Essex natives launched a campaigned against the Oxford University Press to get rid of the "very offensive" term in order to change the perception people have of the county.

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines 'Essex girls' as a “name used especially in jokes to refer to a type of young women who is not intelligent, dresses badly, talks in a loud and ugly way and is very willing to have sex.”

The Essex Girls Liberation Front, founded by the novelist Syd Moore, was behind the campaign who scored the huge victory and pushed for the definition to be changed in the book.

But OUP previously refused to remove the term from its main dictionary in the past, saying: “nothing is ever taken out of the Oxford English Dictionary" because "it's a historical dictionary".

The U-turn comes as other campaigns have emerged from Essex that aim to beat stereotypes.

Another rallying point, Snapping the Stiletto, received a £200,000 lottery grant to spread the word that ‘Essex girl’ does not represent the county.

Supporters include Penny Lancaster and Dame Helen Mirren.

'OFFENSIVE' TERM

Essex tourism bosses are also joining the battle.

Last month they released a short film, This is Essex, that shows residents enjoying the county in its genuine light – as opposed to how it is portrayed in The Only Way is Essex.

The OUP change came after Collins English Dictionary altered its definition last year to: "A characterisation of a young woman from the Essex area, supposed as being materialistic and lacking in taste."

The Only Way Is Essex star Gemma Collins previously told Sky News that "the dictionary should be paying everyone in Essex compensation" for use of the phrase.

She added: "We have evolved over the years. It is very derogatory what has been said about us. And it does need to be changed."

And her former TOWIE co-star Ferne McCann, 30, backed a campaign four years ago trying to get the derogatory expression out of the dictionary.

She said: “I’m a proud Essex Girl. It’s a shame the dictionary definition’s so derogatory.

“Most of us are self-sufficient entrepreneurial grafters.”

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